"West Coast" Video by Coconut Records (2007)

Coconut Records is what Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Darjeeling Limited) calls himself when he multi-track records himself into a full band.

This song is old by now, I know; Schwartzman had a new record come out in January.

I wasn't really a big fan of this song until I saw it in the video below. I'm especially enchanted with the syncing to the climax of the song at about 1:58.

Brad Neely's "America, Now"

It seems like Brad Neely is no longer producing cartoon shorts for Adult Swim's sister site Super Delux, which means no more Baby Cakes or Professor Brothers.

After a long and painful gap of no news, Neely has produced a series of one-dozen shorts for Adult Swim. I'm not sure if they have been run on TV or on the Adult Swim website, but Neely has posted them on his own webpage. Here's my favorite...

Adventure Time (2007)

A short animation that has been picked up for a series on Cartoon Network, starting sometime at the end of 2009.

Atari 2600 Box Art by Mightygodking.com

There's a whole bunch of these here.

The fantasy books aren't nearly as good, but can be found here. I absolutely love "Characters Show Up."

"Muto" by Blu (2007/2008)

I just came across this video of an animation painted across public walls over two years in both Baden (Germany/Austria/Pennsylvania?) and Buenos Aires. Information on the artist (Blu) is unsurprisingly scarce.


The image below is another mural by Blu in Milano. There's something about it that's eerily similar to the work of a friend of mine. I mean come on!... Dan Beyer, I miss you!

Youngme / Nowme

Youngme / Nowme invites anyone to send in an old photo alongside a current recreation. I'm sure that the general formula has been exhibited in several places, but the results of making it a user-submitted event are amazing. It would take hours to look through all of these.

There's something about how cross-generational this is that really make it a winner. As a 20-something, it's rare for me to run into people on the internet in their 50's, and I kind of like it.

***

Night Of The Hunter (1955)

As one of many children born long after the invention of color film I know that I'm not alone on this one: I'm generally biased against the black and white era. I'm well aware that that's a huge generality (the "era" consists of decades and thousands of films) and an outright stupid thing to say, but it's been an unshakable reality for a kid of the 1980's.

Black and white has always been a warning sign for a slow, soft, and outdated experience. Particularly, my experience with the 50's has left me with the impression that all movies were made to be safe for all ages, never really hitting the mark for anyone.

Accordingly, Night Of The Hunter blew my mind. What begins as a familiar piece of 1950's cinema slowly turns into something that I've never seen in black and white before. Something brutal and frightening and murderous.

From Wikipedia...

Ben Harper (Peter Graves) is sentenced to hang for his part in a robbery in which two men were killed. Before he is caught he hides the stolen money, trusting only his children John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce)—about ten and five years old, respectively—with the money's location. Once in prison, Harper shares a cell with Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a self-appointed "preacher." During their time together, Harper gives away the money's location in his sleep.

Upon his release from prison, Powell woos and marries Harper's widow, Willa (Shelly Winters). The children distrust him, telling him nothing, and Powell gradually reveals himself to be heavily deranged as time goes on.

***

1. Robert Mitchum as the preacher Harry Powell

Mitchum embodies one of the more psychotic antagonists I've ever seen in a film, deserving to be remembered with Jack Nicholson in The Shining and Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men. He's haunting and he sings to himself and he is the originator of having the words LOVE and HATE tattooed on ones knuckles.

2. The visual artistry slowly creeps in...
The film's first act is shot rather traditionally; enough to tell the story and not much more. But as things get out of hand in the second half, even simple scenes become bizarre and distorted visual pieces.

A particularly memorable sequence (pictured above) begins with conventional interior shots, but as the tone grows darker we pull back to find the room made into a ridiculously exaggerated shape, jutting out and framed in a seemingly impossible way. Similar revelations of interior design pop up throughout the film in displays of lighting and engineering that I can hardly wrap my head around.

3. Oh yeah, by the way, this is a musical...
We get little bits of songs throughout the film peppered here and there as the preacher sings quietly to himself, but it never feels unnatural. Then, over half way into the story, our five-year-old protagonist who could hardly say more than three words at a time suddenly breaks out into song. It's ridiculous and almost laughable, but in a way it's the most charming and memorable sequence in the film.

***

Night Of The Hunter isn't perfect. There are plenty of moments when I couldn't help but laugh out loud at how bad the child actors are, maybe two of the worst I've ever seen. Similarly laughable is the final act, downright saturated with sermon-style morals delivered in a distractingly unnatural way. None of this really detracts from what is the most unique piece I've ever seen from this era of Hollywood.

Snow In Portland

It snowed in Portland a couple of days ago, and every time this happens, it feels like the whole town has never seen snow before. This video is from last year, but the absurdity of how unprepared we are remains the same. No one gets hurt here, or at least not that the full news cast mentions.

It's kind of terrifying, but also mesmerizing in a way. I love how silent everything is until the jarring cracks of collision. It's like there's nothing else happening anywhere else in the entire city outside of this nightmare block.

***

The Raftman's Razor (2005)

7 minute short about two boys obsessed with a bizarre, fictional comic series. I had read that this was made with the hope of being the opening act of a full length film, but the official website mentions no recent development. In the end, this is perfect how it is.

***

Shaolin Cowboy (2004 - Present)

Shaolin Cowboy is a comic series from writer and artist Geof Darrow. Like all of Darrow's work, the visuals are ridiculously packed with detail and definition (click on the image below, a single illustration spanning multiple pages). Probably for this reason the series is five years old and currently consists of only seven issues.

I have every issue, but funny thing: I've never actually read it. Something in there about Nazi crabs. I don't know that I'm recommending that, but I don't know that I'm not recommending that. It's worth checking out just for the illustration

***

Little Big Man (1970)

Set in the U.S. throughout the 19th century, Little Big Man is narrated retrospectively in the present day by a 121-year old man in a nursing home (Dustin Hoffman) who claims to have known personally historic figures "Wild Bill" Hickok and General George Custer, and to be the last surviving witness of the events at Little Big Horn.

The story begins when Hoffman's character Jack is orphaned as a young child and eventually raised by a Cheyenne tribe. The events of the film find Jack thrown back and forth between life as a Native American and integration into white culture, where he becomes a businessman, a gunslinger, and a soldier under General Custer.

Visually, Little Big Man shares the sets and general imagery of the traditional Hollywood western, but this is the only solid similarity. This is in no way the kind of project I generally associate with the sight of brown, wooden settlement towns, and although the story is serious and ultimately tragic, the film is initially more in line with comedies of the late 60's than with the epic pioneer tale.

I generally avoid the western genre as a whole, and had often written this one off, but as a wonderful example of early Dustin Hoffman (who is in practically every frame here), Little Big Man deserves to be seen alongside his better known Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate.

***

Public Enemies (2009)

or:
The Worst Johnny Depp Movie I've Ever Seen, And I've Seen Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

***

I got the opportunity to see Michael Mann's new movie Public Enemies last week at what appears to have been the very first public screening of the film (held here in Portland, Oregon). It was an early cut with some unfinished sound and special effects, and will likely undergo changes before it's released in July of next year. I wrote the following very quickly, and primarily for the readers of Ain't It Cool News...

Public Enemies is principally about John Dillinger (Depp), his relationship with girlfriend Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), and the early days of the FBI, represented by director J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) and field agent Melvin Purvis (Bale). As the title implies, the story also touches on a few other infamous names including George "Baby Face" Nelson (Stephen Graham) and "Pretty Boy" Floyd (Channing Tatum).

I had read about Public Enemies this time last year, and was honestly looking forward to seeing it. I'm more than a little fond of both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, and I generally put up with period films and true-crime dramas.

Public Enemies is bad. Bad like check-your-watch-every-five-minutes bad. I've never wanted to walk out of a theater more than I did during this screening.

The main offenders here are cliche and predictability. There isn't one element of the film that feels original or surprising or even remotely interesting. It's all been done 100 times before, and often better. From the moment it begins, you know exactly where every character is going and it's simply counting down the minutes until everyone dies.

The action sequences make the time slightly more bearable, but they too suffer from eventually falling into familiar territory where one can't tell what the hell is going on or who is going down. They are certainly capable and vaguely entertaining, but Mann doesn't break new ground here from his previous gunfight sequences. They actually feel dialed back when viewed next to 1995's Heat, and by the time you've seen the first one, you've seen them all.

What would have saved this entire effort? Possibly the focus of the film. There is definitely something compelling about the folk-hero bank-robber, but the story fails as an anti-hero picture. The problem is that I never cared about Dillinger for a single scene. He opens the movie as a violent and murderous criminal, and rides through the whole thing on nothing but greed and desperation. What would the film have been like if we had seen Dillinger pre-crime spree? What if we had seen a glimpse of his time served in the Navy, or even a day of his earlier prison sentence? Johnny Depp's performance is completely workable, but little more. Far from one of his countless standout performances.

What if the film had focused a little bit more clearly on Purvis and the early beginnings of the FBI? The movie fails here, too, as the scene's involving Hoover are simply too short and spread thin, and Bale's character hardly does anything but run around and seem mildly frustrated. Hardly interesting to witness when it makes up every other scene, and Bale seems equally underwhelmed with the situation whenever he's not ducking bullets.

And that leaves the love story, also a complete failure. It's a whirlwind romance in the first act, and then for almost an hour, we hardly even glimpse Cotillard. I had honestly forgotten she was in the movie by the time they throw her back in. Cotillard's Billie is far from the worst love interest in this kind of film, but the movie spends such little time developing her relationship with Dillinger that they both seem like fools for risking their necks for each other. It's almost creepy at times.

I understand that this was a working version of the film, and that many things will be ironed out, but its problems stem directly from the overall structure, and anything short of chopping out an hour of the movie isn't going to make much difference. The romance aspect could be easily restructured, but it too has a long way to go at this point.

I have to point out one undeniable glowing factor in the film, and that is Stephen Graham's "Baby Face" Nelson. I recall Graham most clearly from his super meek character in 2000's Snatch. He is worlds away from that memory in Public Enemies, a complete mad man and easily the best thing about the movie.

Spoiler Alert...

My favorite moment of the screening was towards the final sequence as Dillinger is in a theater watching Manhattan Melodrama directly before his demise. What I liked here wasn't that Public Enemies was implying that Dillinger, through the magic of cinema, was accepting and welcoming his imminent death in the last moments of his life. That was silly Hollywood crap, desperately grasping for a conclusion after so much mindlessness. No. What I liked was that, for a moment, I was in a modern day theater watching a Carey Grant film, and not Public Enemies.

Obama on "going green"

On the list of things that I love, a quote from a few months ago from our new president-elect...

"I often find myself trapped by [debate] questions... So when Brian Williams is asking me, 'What's a personal thing that you've done [to help the enivornment]?', and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I fucking changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective."

- Barack Obama

Casual Cyclist in India

I really don't want to be a poster of "funny videos," but this is an unbelievable demonstration. He must be a Hancock.

Don't worry. No one gets hurt.

***

The Election of Barack Obama

or:
Oh, By The Way...

I know that 65 million other Americans have already blogged about this, but I thought I might mention that the most historic moment in my lifetime happened on Tuesday.

I was 17 years old when George W. Bush took the White House. I went to college 6 days after the demolition of the World Trade Center, and I was 19 on the invasion of Iraq. I'm of a generation that has only known one horrific, murderous, and shameful America their entire adult lives.

The sensation I got on Tuesday night is one I've honestly never experienced.

***

Also: FUCK YEAH!

Japanese Rube Goldberg

An impressive collection of Japanese Rube Goldberg machines, well worth sitting through all 14 minutes. This makes me feel like a kid more than anything I've discovered in my adult life. I love this video forever.

When I first saw these, I thought they must be television ID's for a family channel. Later on, a friend of mine came back from a month in Japan and said that these are actually promotional videos selling the sets of objects to construct these machines.

***

Here's another one. I don't recommend actually sitting through the whole thing, but I post it as a curiosity none the less. (Particularly, don't watch the classroom footage at the end. That has nothing to do with it). My father had this on VHS when I was very young. I believe it gave me some pretty bad dreams.

***

Mary Poppins as a horror film

In the vain of the Shining preview from yesterday, but in reverse. Very well done.

"The Shining" as a romantic drama

This has been around for years. I've probably seen it 20 times, and I stall can't can't help but smile when "Solsbury Hill" comes up.

Palin/Couric Set To Piano

I'm already tired of Sarah Palin humor, and we've only really known her for two months now. Regardless, this is a masterpiece of arrangement and satire.

The Tumbleweed Company

Yesterday, my co-workers were discussing the finer points of our quickly crashing economy. You know. The stuff like food hoarding and imminent cannibalism.

The Host [괴물] (2006)

or:
If Finding Nemo Had More Live Action And Made You Shit Your Pants

The Host (2006) is a family drama out of South Korea that becomes a giant-monster movie, a tragedy, an adventure, and a familiar Korean revenge story. And in the midst of all of this, it takes itself very seriously.

The characters are sincere and heartbreaking in their utter desperation. The setting, the city, and the river all seem completely structured and memorable, if not drab and bleak. When it's sad, it's really kind of sad.

The central monster is displayed immediately in full daylight, and with absolutely no suspense or introduction. What begins as a very subtle and purposefully bland scene set on developing our central characters quickly turns into what is usually reserved for the grand finale of this type of film. In a sense it's quite reminiscent of Japanese animation, in which an incredible amount of technology and resource will be expended in portraying a character tying his or her shoes. This is more or less how the monster is treated by the film: as little more than a million-dollar CG plot point. The story is about a family tragedy, and that's really the brilliance here.

- Max Brown
(10/18/08)

Wizard People, Dear Readers (2004)

or:
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Potter

Wizard People, Dear Readers is an alternative soundtrack for the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). Written and narrated by Brad Neely, a comic artists based in Austin, TX, the track is intended to completely replace the original sound of the film. This is achieved by downloading the MP3 from Neely's website to play alongside a US DVD or VHS of the movie on mute. Not the easiest task and precise syncing can be a little tricky, but the result is more than worth the price of admission.

Immediately, comparisons to Mystery Science Theater 3000 would be obvious, but the work is a different animal entirely. The soundtrack is presented as a narrated book on tape that corresponds to the events on screen, but could practically stand alone.

Although the overall work does poke fun at the franchise as well as the quality of the film, the dominant tone is that of hyper-sincerity. Everything about Harry Potter is magnified to a ridiculous status. Harry refers to himself as "A destroyer of worlds," we are told that he is "the most powerful baby in the universe," and the narrator often cites the protagonist as a god.

Wizard People, Dear Readers is more than simply a unique viewing. It's a bizarre and outright silly project, but Neely treated it with the passion of a full work of art. The entire performance goes far beyond a simple YouTube curiosity, and the writing is far above most contemporary comedic work.

***

The film clocks in at an epic 147 minutes, and the soundtrack runs the whole way through. The MP3 download is split in two, allowing to fit onto two audio CDs. Accordingly, I recommend watching the project in two sittings.

Man On Wire (2008)

or:
45 Minutes in Heaven

From IMDB:

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century."

***

I saw this documentary in the theater recently, and it was a surprisingly emotional experience. No one gets killed or harmed in any way, but it's simply overwhelming none the less. It's definitely something to see on the big screen if possible.

It also manages to never mention the September 11th attacks, nor even allude to them. That event couldn't be further from the focus of this film. There's something wonderfully reassuring about seeing a WTC film made in 2008 with no trace of tragedy.

- Max Brown
(10/12/08)

The Mighty Boosh (2004 - 2007)

or:

Your New Favorite Zoo-Keeper Show

After discovering this BBC3 series, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it sooner. A bizarre comedy centering around British comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, the show finds the two as zookeepers in season 1, going on trips in season 2, and running a shop in the most recent season. The show usually plays out like an Abbott and Costello routine that turns into an episode of Night Court and then into an episode of The X Files, but silly. It's a strong formula.

Also: The budget for this seemingly small show must be incredible. The special effects and animatronics are brilliant, and vary greatly from show to show. No kidding.

Children of Men (2006)

or:
Long-haired Michael Caine could beat the crap out of regular-haired Michael Caine


I feel like I grew up in the room pictured above. Maybe that has something to do with my love for Children of Men.

***

Children of Men is one of those movie experiences that feels flawless in every last moment down to every last detail. It entirely transcends the science-fiction/action/apocalypse genre, and should be looked at with much more in mind than the typical formula.

1. The film treats us like we're smart.

This is not the kind of movie made to be watched by a dumb audience. When the film begins, there is no title card saying "In the year 2009, women stopped having babies and everything got shitty." We are introduced to the world of Children of Men subtly. The fertility crisis has been a reality for 20 years, so there's no one standing on the street with a THE END IS NEAR sign.

2. We have a group of heroes who are far past their prime.

Clive Owen's hardened, alcoholic character Theo may not shatter any traditions. We've had the flawed protagonist for a long time. But then as backup we get Jasper (Michael Caine), an ancient hippie who grows pot and takes care of his catatonic wife in a secluded forest home; and Miriam (Pam Ferris), a 50-something activist who, judging by the timing (the film is set in 2027), must have been part of the grunge scene in her 20's. These two are as much a backbone of the movie as Clive Owen, and for a film of this size to rely on such non-traditional character types is immediately unique.

3. The cinematography is purely miraculous.

There are three scenes in Children of Men where, after having watched for about five minutes, one slowly realizes there has been absolutely no break in the shot. Three sequences involving hundreds of extras, countless timing concerns, practical special effects, and sincere performances. And they all go perfectly. These must have been a nightmare to produce, and the effect is nothing short of brilliant.

4. The little things are everywhere.

The future world is endlessly detailed with billboards, newspapers, and artifacts. The music of the future (in a scene in Jasper's house early on) has gotten so obscure and bizarre that it is now simply screaming and banging on pots and pans. A kitten climbing up Theo's leg in a scene is at first a strange segue, yet is sub-consciously the only infant we've encountered. Clive Owen loses his shoes and is in flip-flops for half of the film, which I found just completely universal.

***

Children of Men was my favorite film of 2006, and easily among the top films of the last decade. It didn't get half of the recognition that it deserved, and I can't recommend it enough.

- Max Brown
10/10/2008

"This American Life" on The Bailout

or:
"The Sub-Prime Crisis for Dummies"

Until I listened to this week's installment of This American Life (10/3/08), I have to admit that I had been only vaguely familiar with why we've recently been hearing so much about the economy. Ira Glass spells it out in 60 minutes.

Also, if you haven't been to the website before, notice that you can listen to every episode on the site and download the most recent episode, both for free.

***
or:
"The Sub-Prime Crisis for Mummies" (!?!)
***

A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible (2004 - 2006)

or:
"Webcomic Puts To Shame Everything You've Ever Seen/Felt"

I can't say enough good about "A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible," a series of 42 single-page stories available here. It's my favorite thing I've ever come across online, and the best comic I've ever read, physical or digital.

(Note : Start at the bottom of the archive, read up, and keep in mind that it doesn't get really good until #006 or so.)
...

Six Whites for World Peaces

or:
A universal message of peace from a bunch of baby-faced badasses.


I've been meticulously organizing my music collection over the past couple of days and ran across this in the process. I sincerely think this is the greatest album cover I've ever seen. I couldn't find a very good version online, so I did some digital cleanup here and blew it up a bit. Click it for large.